Always loved this show. I had/have a tape of your recording about 4 or 5 Gens down. Great to listen to the full deal.The boys were having fun that night and playing great and you caught it.

THANK YOU!!! My first LIVE DEAD!!! Thank YOU, Gary Wolfson for your DEADication in bringing it out ALIVE!!! Thank YOU, Dearest Friend, Sweet Lydia, for the Trip!!! "The Bus came by, and I got on!"

Great recording for the time (though a bit wobbly at times), good show but not great. NRPS sucked in 1970. Sorry, but they did.
However, if you just take the Dead's sets and erase NRPS, this is one of the golden recordings of 1970. The Good Lovin' and the Truckin'/Other One/NFA/GDTRFB are absolute masterpieces in energy alone, and technically two of my favorite jams of the era.

Here are some notes I made in 2002.
My friend Norm Sartorius and I had seen the Dead for the first time at the Fillmore West in April 1970 after driving cross-country in (of course) a VW microbus. This was the run where Miles Davis opened for them. We came back to Baltimore (where I grew up) babbling to friends but we didn't have anything to play for them except Live Dead and, when it first came out, Workingman's Dead. Then we heard that they were coming to Georgetown U. After work on a Friday we loaded up whoever would fit into Norm's VW bus and took off for D.C. The place (a big, very hot gym) was packed when we got there. At the 4-12-70 show I was leaning against the stage (right in front of Pig), so there was no way were going to be in the back bleachers. Besides, I had this new Sony TC-124 tape deck. So we wormed our way up the aisle to the front. They were actually trying to keep a fire aisle open across the front. We bribed the security guy with a hit of mescaline and he let us in. We ended up maybe 15 feet back from the stage. I stood there the whole night with my hand in the air. The New Riders played and Garcia joined them. I taped this, too, but trust me, you don't want to hear it. The sound was awful.
There was a long break, during which people passed water jugs up to the stage and some of the crew would fill them up with water and pass them back -- it was so hot and crowded. Finally, they got everything set up. The announcer says, "Once again, the Grateful Dead," which led one writer to speculate that maybe there was more to this show, but he was just referring to the Riders set with Jerry. It's a short show, but Wow! BTW, the guy making the most noise on the tape is NOT me, but this goofy guy who'd been on the California trip with us. Still, you can hear me say at one point, sarcastically, "You think they've got it on tonight?" and this guy respond, equally jokingly, "Maybe half-lit." Hey, we were all well-dosed and enjoying a Grateful Dead concert the way it was supposed to be.
As far as taping went, I really didn't know what the hell I was doing. This was way before Maxell XL-IIs came in vogue and I was using one no-name "assembled in Mexico" cassette and one Mallory Duratape (taping over the first Hot Tuna album). The TC-124 didn't have a pause button and, like other tapers of that era, I hit the stop button a lot between songs to save tape. In spite of that, this still sounds pretty damn good, even 32 years later. Supposedly there was a radio broadcast, but no copy of it has ever materialized.
Cary Wolfson
September 2002

HARD TO HANDLE. Amazing energy with this man fronting the band. It gave them an entirely different musical dimension, very funky and raw.
Superb cleanup of an excellent recording for the period.

At first I thought the other one was better, as the gain is turned up. But when I listened closely it became clear that this source is much clearer, without the muddiness in the middle that plagues that version. It would be nice if it was a little louder, but you can easily take care of that when listening.
Enjoy!

GREAT quality for being an audience recording! I actually enjoyed the bits of banter, just because it really gives you a feel for the vibes of what it was like to be at a show in their prime.

Thanx Cary, D. and MOTB. A decent audience recording and definitely worth a listen, if not a download. A really muscular Hard To Handle is the highlight for me. I love the slightly offbeat style drumming during Good Lovin' before they charge back into the more circular sound of this era. Not as jammy as many of this year's shows, but a nice rocker. I am playing Glendale Train and Dirty Business on my radio show this week. Peace

I attended this show at age 18 & was blown away! Highlights for me are Jerry's wah-wah guitar on "Sugar Magnolia" and Pigpen on a muscular "Hard to Handle". Don't forget that NRPS opened the concert with Jerry on pedal steel guitar. This show came after the release of "Workingman's Dead" and before "American Beauty"...they opened with "Casey Jones" and closed with "Uncle John's Band", the reverse of the album sequence. It was a fantastic concert & I'm grateful that it was recorded from the audience (despite the "noise"), bringing back the feeling of being there 38 years ago!

okay first off, my FAV. HARD TO HANDLE! luv luv this song and even better with pigpen. and second, even the part when audience talkin' nice trippen with ya...makes the recording a experience cuz you feel like you are right there. SOOOOOO so nice! thanks for the recording! :-)

The Band is easily heard, for an audience tape. Very clear for an audience show, you're not going to hear billy's techinque on his cymbals but it's still excellent. Highly recommended.
Experience the show from the audience. It's an opportunity to hear the show, and hear what it was like to be in the audience. Very enjoyable, very nice recording, you can hear the band well considering how it was recorded.
The audience hand clapping isn't a big detraction or distraction on this Audience recording. In fact when and if it does happen it's in the background and doesn't last long. It does have some, but the mic doesn't sound like it was surrounded by it.
Hard To Handle is always a treat, especially for us Pigpen fans. Great drum solo during GL, they come out of the solo same as 10-04-70. Good Lovin stopped downloading half way through...huh?
And now the NRPS stuff won't download, hey! There's a problem with some of these tracks, brother.
October was the month China Cat Sunflower/IKYR formed this incredible sound, never heard since in the same way. My Favorite CCS/IKYR is from the 10-04-70 Winterland show. This one is excellent too.
There are better recordings, not better shows. When you are done getting all the Soundboards remember to come back and get this one...Bookmark it, put it in your favorites, or whatever...but at least download it and keep it on a data DVD or something, because when you want to hear the DEAD in 1970, in October in DC, this is where you wind up.
3 Stars, Amazing mix.I'd give it 4, but I had Trouble downloading Good Lovin, and the NRPS. Improved sound, I downloaded it. I only give soundboards 5 stars.
It's been 38 years since this show and I finally got to hear it thanks to the kind generosity of Cary Wolfson and D. McCabe. I wouldn't know you guys if you stood next to me, but I know it takes a loving person to share this with all of us and we all thank you, very much. These recordings are all we have of THE GRATEFUL DEAD. You've improved the quality of my life by sharing this. TY.
This is a wonderful show, not to be missed just because it's an "audience" recording.
Eat, drink, be merry and listen to THE GRATEFUL DEAD.
Thanks for the Love.